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The Tome of Shudo, pt. 2

Hey! Hey! I got my hands on that novel by Takeshi Shudo! While I can’t read any of it, there are a lot of illustrations. I have in-laws visiting for the week, and also a birthday, so you get this post instead of a real one. Lots of picture, less of me talking, yay!

Also, before we begin, happy birthday on *this very day* to the editor, whose blog name I forget. It’s her birthday! This is basically us

Anyway, business. The scans are pretty crappy. Old printer plus not wanting to break the spine of the book equals some shoddy reproduction.

The Illustrations (by Sayuri Ichiisi)

Look at that badass dbag Gary. Also, Ash’s mother looks like she’s my age. Ash, your mom’s a hottie. Is that weird for you? What if Gary starts hitting on your mom, Ash? The real reason for their rivalry, a bizarre Freudian battle?

Murder Pikachu is the best Pikachu.

James’ funky pose in that middle panel.

Heart eyes! And also Misty’s “I can’t even right now” face.

My favorite of all of them is Ash, the face of unchecked acquisition, surrounded by the words, “GET GET GET.” Very subtle. Also, murder Pikachu returns at the end of the novel. A neat visual arc.

That’s all the illustrations, but wait! Our journey is not done yet!

The (less visually exciting but still important) non-visual paratext

Copywright information and dust jacket

Spine and front cover (under dust jacket)

Table of contents and a random page.

Other Paratextual Details

The smell. It is overwhelmingly musty. You open a page and the whole room smells like there’s a stack of old basement books. There’s no visible mildew, it seems to be in good condition for a cheap paperback, but man, this thing came packed with the ghosts of millions of mildew spores. A university library’s worth. Definitely going to keep this baby in its little plastic book baggie that it came in.

It’s also quite small. I’d guess 6″ by 4″? Maybe 8″ by 6″? I don’t feel like measuring it. It’s a small book.

And that’s it! If you read Japanese and want to translate this for me I’d be super happy about that.